Anyone know if this was a high-speed train, or just an ordinary metro or commuter?

There's kind of a raging debate in U.S. rail circles these days about the best safety practice for high speed railcars. The Federal Rail Agency is old-school and wants 'em built like tanks, or more accurately, like body-on-frame trucks... which makes them heavy, expensive, and slow. The other camp favors the lightweight, monocoque-with-crumple-zone approach that has worked well in passenger automobiles. This sad accident is likely to feed into the debate...

EddyKilowatt:Anyone know if this was a high-speed train, or just an ordinary metro or commuter?

There's kind of a raging debate in U.S. rail circles these days about the best safety practice for high speed railcars. The Federal Rail Agency is old-school and wants 'em built like tanks, or more accurately, like body-on-frame trucks... which makes them heavy, expensive, and slow. The other camp favors the lightweight, monocoque-with-crumple-zone approach that has worked well in passenger automobiles. This sad accident is likely to feed into the debate...

It was a medium speed (by Spanish/European terms) train. The Talgo train/locomotive combo in this accident was capable of up to 250kmh (155mph). The high speed train is the AVE.

Early theory is that it overturned on the curve due to excessive speed. Talgos already operate at higher than standard curve speeds due to their roof mounted suspension and tilting ability.

From the photos circulating the net, the carbodies look remarkably intact. I wouldn't expect a US-spec train in the same situation to look any better. Of course, the Talgo's curve speed is far in excess of what is even allowed in the US for ANY train.

And, US type equipment has been obliterated at speeds as low at 40mph (Chatsworth). The real answer is not to get into an accident in the first place. The Europeans as a whole are a LOT better at that than the US, and the Japanese are far, far better than the Europeans.

FrancoFile:Crudbucket: I just finished the Camino de Santiago a couple weeks ago and I passed by that train station twice, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

/great trip, but Spanish food sucks.

Say what now?

REAL paella. 97 varieties of ham. Tapas.

What didn't you like?

Tell me about it. I'm so pissed. There was a great tapas restaurant near my hous and they closed. It's place was taken by yet another italian restaurant. Don't gte me wrong, I love Italian food (I'm of Italian descent myself), but there are plenty of them. GIVE ME MY TAPAS BACK.

The train was traveling at warp factor 95 times infinity, everyone is Spain is dead, Ibiza has slipped back into the Mediterranean, neighboring Portugal is teetering on the edge of civil war, and there are reports of a zombie outbreak in Morocco.

UPDATE

Fourteen civil wars in Portugal, Ibiza is slipping back into the sea over and over again, and Morocco's zombie outbreak has spread to the whole known universe.

Just to give full benefit of the doubt before all of the details are known, with such an excessive overspeed, mechanical failure is still an outside possibility. Not a strong one, but not impossible.

That was a variable gauge trainset, so the increased lateral load could have exceeded the mechanical limits of the system. It looks like the first or second carriage behind the power unit lost it first.

I'm surprised that the control/signal system wasn't configured to warn or prevent such an extreme overspeed in the first place. Of course, that would cost extra.

nekom:Just to give full benefit of the doubt before all of the details are known, with such an excessive overspeed, mechanical failure is still an outside possibility. Not a strong one, but not impossible.

the driver of the train has a history of posting photos of the train speedometer at high speeds on facebook.